1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to clips adapted for fixing wire harnesses to mounting plates such as chassis or wiring boards of, e.g., automobile bodies or various electronic devices. More particularly, the invention is directed to a clip for stably fixing a wire harness irrespective of the thickness and width of the mounting body.
2. Related art
Generally, when a wire harness is assembled to the body of an automobile or the like, clips made of resin are mounted on the wire harness at predetermined intervals by tape or the like, and the wire harness is fixed to the body through these clips. Such clips come in various types. An exemplary clip will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.
As shown in FIG. 6, a clip 1 has not only a substantially cylindrical clip main body 3 on a surface of a base plate 2, but also has a pair of flexible blades 4a, 4b having such a shape as to expand outward from the vicinity of the clip main body 3. Further, a pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b having flexibility are arranged on the circumferential surface of the clip main body 3. It may be noted that a wire harness 6 is fixed by an adhesive vinyl tape or the like after being brought into contact with the base plate 2 so as to extend along the lower surface of the base plate 2.
Further, a mounting hole 8 for allowing the clip main body 3 to be inserted thereinto is formed in a mounting plate 7 to which the wire harness is fixed. In attaching the wire harness 6 to the mounting plate 7, the wire harness 6 is first fixed to the base plate 2 by the tape or the like, and then the clip main body 3 is squeezed into the mounting hole 8. While the clip main body 3 is being inserted into the mounting hole 8, the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b are biased by the inner wall of the mounting hole 8 so as to be deformed by flexing toward the center of the clip main body 3.
Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b recover the original shape thereof when the inserting of the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b has been completed, making the clip main body 3 unrelesable from the mounting hole 8. Hence, the wire harness 6 can be fixed to the mounting plate 7 through the clip 1.
If the mounting plate 7 is wide as indicated by the phantom line, then the lower surface of the mounting plate 7 is pushed down while brought into contact with the flexible blades 4a, 4b when the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b have been completely inserted into the mounting hole 8. Therefore, once the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b have recovered the original shape thereof, the mounting plate 7 is made unrelesable by the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b. In addition, the flexible blades 4a, 4b are resiliently urged upward, which in turn prevents the clip from being slackened.
However, the flexible blades 4a, 4b of the thus constructed clip have not been able to function, in some cases, because of the shape of the mounting plate 7. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, in the case where the width W of the mounting plate 7 is narrow and therefore the mounting plate 7 does not come in contact with the flexible blades 4a, 4b when the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b have been completely inserted into the mounting hole 8, a gap is produced between the pair of retaining protuberances 5a, 5b and the mounting plate 7. As a result, the clip 1 is slackened with respect to the mounting plate 7 despite the fact that the flexible blades 4a, 4b are provided in order to prevent the slackening of the clip 1.
As is apparent from the above description, in the conventional clip 1, the flexible blades 4a, 4b have not been able to perform, in some cases, such a given function as to prevent the slackening of the clip 1, depending on the shape of the mounting plate 7. When the clip 1 is slackened, the clip 1 makes unwanted noise and vibrations, e.g., during the travelling of the automobile. Further, the flexible blades 4a, 4b have the outward by extending shape, which has made the flexible blades 4a, 4b susceptible to interference with the other parts of the clip. As a result, the flexible blades 4a, 4b are susceptible to breakage during shipment, which is one of many problems encountered by the conventional clip 1.